Big Day Out

by Jacqueline Wilson

  ‘What about a big cat? A tiger or a leopard or a panther,’ I said, leaping around the bathroom and pouncing on Melissa.

  ‘Ow! Stop it, you idiot. No, a little cat with fluffy fur – one that will sit on my lap and purr,’ said Melissa.

  ‘You just like cute and cuddly animals. I want a really exciting pet,’ I said.

  My head felt like a Noah’s Ark as animals of all shapes and sizes trumpeted and roared and whinnied in my mind. I dressed hurriedly in my comfy jeans and my Pow! T-shirt and my tartan Converse boots. Melissa dressed in her pink glittery heart top and her shortest skirt and her silly shoes with tiny heels. These are our favourite outfits.

  Dad pretended to be dazzled by our gorgeousness when we came down for breakfast. Mum was less enthusiastic, but didn’t make either of us go and change. She was in an unusually good mood.

  ‘Can we really really really have a pet, Mum?’ I asked.

  ‘We’re not making any promises. Your dad has twisted my arm about going to this Pet Show. We’ll see. But I do know just how much it would mean to you, Martina – and if you had a real animal it might help you grow out of all those tatty toys you trail around.’

  ‘See!’ said Melissa. ‘I was right. Mum, can we have a cat?’

  ‘We’re going to have a good look at all the pets at the Show – I just think a cat would be a very sensible choice,’ said Mum. ‘They’re very clean and you don’t have to take them for walks.’

  ‘Couldn’t we have a tiger, Mum, just a baby one, and then I could train it so it wouldn’t be too fierce and would only bite people I don’t like? Or what about a tarantula? They’re fluffy, Melissa, and I’m sure it would sit on your lap,’ I said.

  ‘Try not to be silly, Martina, or I might just change my mind altogether,’ said Mum.

  I sometimes find it very hard not to be silly when I’m all excited, but I managed to keep my lips buttoned on the tube to Olympia. There were crowds and crowds all flocking into the big exhibition centre. It took ages to queue up and get inside – and then there we were, in this absolutely enormous hall, chock full of animals.

  ‘Oh, brilliant!’ I said, rushing off headlong – but Dad caught hold of me by the back of my T-shirt.

  ‘Calm down now, Marty! Don’t you dare go charging off like that – we’ll lose you in this crowd,’ he said.

  ‘Good idea!’ said Melissa, who can never resist a wise-crack. ‘Let’s go and see the cats!’

  ‘We’d better do this methodically, aisle by aisle,’ said Mum – but the cats happened to be on the nearest aisle.

  I was all set to find them boring, simply because they were Melissa’s choice – but the moment I stood in front of the first big padded cage I fell totally in love with the most beautiful Russian Blue cat called Anastasia. She wasn’t really blue, just a soft grey colour, but her eyes were a bright sapphire blue. She was clearly a very special cat, because her cage was covered with red and yellow rosettes. She lay back modestly enough, her paws neatly crossed, her great blue eyes staring at me.

  ‘Oh, I want this one! Oh, please, she’s so beautiful!’ I said. ‘Can we have her?’

  ‘Oh, yes, I love her! She’s just so cute!’ said Melissa. ‘Let’s have her, please!’

  The lady sitting beside her cage smiled. ‘Yes, she is very beautiful and very cute,’ she said proudly. ‘I’m afraid she’s my cat though, and I wouldn’t part with her for the world.’

  ‘The animals here aren’t for sale, girls. This is just to show you all these different pets, so you can see which sort you want,’ said Dad.

  ‘We know already, Dad! We want a Russian Blue cat!’ we said.

  ‘If you like, I’ll get Anastasia out of her cage and you can stroke her,’ said the lady.

  ‘Oh, yes please!’

  Melissa and I washed our hands with this special liquid and then very carefully stroked Anastasia. She stretched out luxuriously, and purred when I gently tickled under her chin.

  ‘Could we have a cat like this one?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, we have another Russian Blue at home who’s going to have kittens soon,’ said her owner. ‘You can give us your name and address if you like, and we’ll put you on our waiting list.’

  ‘Oh, WOW! Mum, Dad, can we have a Russian Blue kitten?’ we begged.

  ‘Well, maybe,’ said Dad.

  ‘Could you give us some idea how much it would cost?’ said Mum.

  ‘About five hundred,’ said the lady.

  Five hundred pounds for one tiny kitten! ‘Maybe not,’ said Dad.

  ‘Perhaps dogs are cheaper,’ I said.

  We went to look at all the dogs next. We even saw a lady in a fancy costume doing a dance with her black and white collie.

  ‘Oh, how cool! I want a dog that can dance!’ I said. ‘I could train it to do all sorts of tricks!’

  We looked along aisle after aisle, and saw tiny lapdogs and great big butch Rottweilers and fabulous snowy white huskies.

  ‘Oh, let’s have a husky! Let’s have lots of huskies, and then we can have a sledge and they can pull us along the road when it snows!’ I said.

  ‘We haven’t even got room for one dog in the house, let alone a team of huskies,’ said Mum. ‘Why don’t we go and look at the rabbits?’

  So we cooed at the rabbits and stroked the guinea pigs and tickled the mice – but I loved the great big rats the most. Mum and Melissa went a bit squeaky themselves and backed away, but a nice man let me carry his best white rat on my shoulder. The rat peeped round at me and wriggled his little pink nose adorably.

  ‘Oh, he’s so lovely! Can we have a rat just like this one?’ I begged, but sadly Mum said absolutely no way.

  She was a bit strange when we got to the snake section too, but I thought the snakes were beautiful. I couldn’t find a boa constrictor, but I held a very pretty red and white snake just like a great big living necklace.

  ‘What does he like to eat?’ I asked.

  ‘Mice, mostly,’ said the snake’s owner.

  ‘Oh dear,’ I said.

  ‘I think it’s time we had something to eat,’ said Dad.

  We bought a big takeaway pizza and shared it between us.

  ‘Well, girls, what’s the verdict?’ said Dad. ‘What sort of pet would you like?’

  ‘I’d like a Russian Blue cat, and a dog that can dance, and a husky, and a rabbit with floppy ears, and a guinea pig that squeaks, and a white rat that’ll sit on my shoulder, and a whole cageful of mice – but I’d never ever feed them to anyone – and a vegetarian snake,’ I said.

  ‘I’d like a cat,’ said Melissa. ‘But they cost far too much money.’

  ‘These are mostly special pedigree cats at this show, and they do cost a fortune,’ said Dad. ‘But maybe we could get an ordinary moggy from a special rescue home? I don’t think a little rescue cat would cost too much money.’

  ‘Can we have a rescue husky too, Dad? And a rescue rabbit and a rescue guinea pig and a rescue white rat and rescue mice and a rescue snake?’

  ‘What did I say about being silly, Martina?’ said Mum. But she didn’t sound really cross. She was looking at Dad. ‘Have you got your tube map handy? Perhaps we could go to Battersea this afternoon?’

  So we went to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. We walked round their special cattery and saw many many many cats desperate for their own special homes. Some were big and some were small, some were fierce and hissed, some cowered and looked sad. There were black cats and ginger cats and white cats and tortoiseshell cats, and we dithered in front of each one.

  ‘I want them all!’ I said. ‘Couldn’t we at least have a cat each – one for me and one for Melissa and one for Dad and one for Mum?’

  ‘One cat for all of us!’ said Mum.

  And then I saw him. He was in a cage right at the end. He was much smaller than the others, just a little kitten. He was a soft grey like the Russian Blue, but he had a beautiful white face and chest and neat white paws. He had the prettiest little anxious face with a
pink nose and soft white whiskers. He opened his green eyes wide and looked straight at me imploringly.

  ‘Oh, this is our cat!’ I said.

  Melissa came and looked. ‘Oh, yes! You’re right, Marty! Oh, he’s just so cute!’

  ‘I love him,’ said Dad.

  We all looked at Mum.

  ‘He’s the sweetest little chap I’ve ever seen. Let’s see if we can have him!’ said Mum.

  We had to be interviewed and have our home checked – but now we are a family of five! Mum and Dad and Melissa and me – and our new little kitten, Tiger.

  If you want to find out more about Marty and Melissa, then read Jacqueline Wilson’s book

  About the Author

  JACQUELINE WILSON is an extremely well-known and hugely popular author who served as Children’s Laureate from 2005–7. THE ILLUSTRATED MUM was chosen as the British Children’s Book of the Year in 1999 and was winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award 2000. Jacqueline has won the prestigious Smarties Prize and the Children’s Book Award for DOUBLE ACT, which was also highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. In 2002 Jacqueline was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. In 2009 she was Britain’s most-borrowed author from libraries.

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  Jacqueline Wilson

  OFFICIAL WEBSITE

  You’ll find lots of FUN STUFF there including games, video trailers and amazing competitions. You can even customise your own page and start your own online diary!

  You’ll find out all about Jacqueline in her monthly diary and tour blogs, as well as seeing her replies to fan mail. You can also chat to other fans on the message board.

  Join in today at www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk

  Sometimes Lily wishes she really was home alone …

  Can Ella’s love bring Mum back?

  Hi! I’m Tracy. I’m ten, and I live in a Children’s Home – but I’d like a real home one day, with a real family. These books are all about me. I’d read them if I were you. They’re the most incredible dynamic heart-rending stories. Honest.

  Meet Jacqueline Wilson’s most feisty, popular and well-loved character in these three mega-bestselling books!

  When Mum falls ill, can Sadie step in and save the day?

  Will Daisy and her special sister ever fit in?

  Lizzie doesn’t want to talk to her new step-family – so she won’t say anything at all!

  ALSO BY JACQUELINE WILSON

  Published in Corgi Pups, for beginner readers:

  THE DINOSAUR’S PACKED LUNCH

  THE MONSTER STORY-TELLER

  Published in Young Corgi, for newly confident readers:

  LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

  SLEEPOVERS

  Available from Doubleday/Corgi Yearling Books:

  BAD GIRLS

  THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR

  BEST FRIENDS

  BURIED ALIVE!

  CANDYFLOSS

  THE CAT MUMMY

  CLEAN BREAK

  CLIFFHANGER

  COOKIE

  THE DARE GAME

  THE DIAMOND GIRLS

  DOUBLE ACT

  DOUBLE ACT (PLAY EDITION)

  GLUBBSLYME

  THE ILLUSTRATED MUM

  JACKY DAYDREAM

  LILY ALONE

  LITTLE DARLINGS

  THE LONGEST WHALE SONG

  THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  MIDNIGHT

  THE MUM-MINDER

  MY SECRET DIARY

  MY SISTER JODIE

  SECRETS

  SAPPHIRE BATTERSEA

  STARRING TRACY BEAKER

  THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER

  THE SUITCASE KID

  VICKY ANGEL

  THE WORRY WEBSITE

  THE WORST THING ABOUT MY SISTER

  Collections:

  THE JACQUELINE WILSON COLLECTION includes THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER and THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR

  JACQUELINE WILSON’S DOUBLE-DECKER includes BAD GIRLS and DOUBLE ACT

  JACQUELINE WILSON’S SUPERSTARS includes THE SUITCASE KID and THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  Available from Doubleday/Corgi Books, for older readers:

  DUSTBIN BABY

  GIRLS IN LOVE

  GIRLS UNDER PRESSURE

  GIRLS OUT LATE

  GIRLS IN TEARS

  KISS

  LOLA ROSE

  LOVE LESSONS

  Join the official Jacqueline Wilson fan club at www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk

  BIG DAY OUT

  AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 12104 5

  Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK

  A Random House Group Company

  This ebook edition published 2012

  First published as BIG DAY OUT by Corgi Yearling for World Book Day 2012

  ‘Our Free Day Out’ originally published in The Jacqueline Wilson Summer Annual, copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2011

  ‘Day Out in the Country’ originally published in More Muck and Magic (Egmont), copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2001

  ‘Odd One Out’ originally published in Eating Candyfloss Upside Down (Puffin), copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2003; reprinted in Totally Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday, 2007)

  ‘Marty’s Big Day Out’ copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2012

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2012

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2012

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.